We've already explored some of the repercussions that could come if Google exits China, but that's looking all the more likely now that an actual date has been pointed at by one of their Chinese employees.

April 10th is said to be the date they'll pull out of the country, but according to the China Business News newspaper, Google will make the announcement next Monday, March 22nd. A former Google staffer, Peter Lui, has been quoted as saying:

"[They've] burnt bridges and they've burnt the Google brand in China...there is no way Google can ever come back."

Yesterday Bloomberg got in touch with 22 of the 27 companies who allegedly sent a letter to Google demanding compensation if they upped and left, leaving their purchase of advertising keywords dead, and confirmed that none of them had signed the letter nor even knew of it. [Bloomberg]